Stuff is linked with other stuff

There's a correlation between the position of a mother's eyebrows and the amount of truth that comes out of her child's mouth. It's an automatic function, like your heart beat, or breathing, so it's something you might not normally notice, yet you count on it to work.

A conversation from today:

Me: Did you like the chocolate milk I made for you?
Jackson: Yes, mommy! I drank it all up.
Me: Oh! Good, well then I'll make it for you again next Wednesday.
Jackson: Oh. Uh, well .... I... no, that's ok, mommy. It was good. But I ....
Me: (slightly raised eyebrow) You what.
Jackson: Well ... I ... it was pretty good? But it sort of tasted a little like coffee.
Me: (raised a little bit more) Like coffee? Huh. That's funny. It didn't have any coffee in it, that's for sure.
Jackson: Well ... I ... actually. Actually? I didn't really like it at all.
Me: (both eyebrows all the way up) You didn't like it at all.
Jackson: Actually, mommy? ... actually I poured it all down the sink.

That's funny stuff. So, the reason I made him chocolate milk in the first place is that every Wednesday at his wonderful school is pizza day. The kids get a slice of pizza and choice of orange juice or chocolate milk, and either an ice cream sandwich or an orange popsicle for dessert. He only takes a couple of licks and then throws them away because they're too messy for him, but he has the fun of having something to unwrap with his friends.

We don't buy food that contains artificial flavours or colours and we try to keep the sugar intake to a minimum. We don't chew gum or eat candy except on Halloween or chocolates at Christmas time, Valentine's Day - stuff like that. But not cheap crappy stuff and it's never a part of daily consumption.

So anyway, Jackson doesn't like orange juice so I filled out chocolate milk on the form for Wednesdays and he chose popsicles as the dessert treat. I noticed that he was having really bad mood swings in the middle of the week but it wasn't until Halloween that I put it all together. He's sensitive to sugar but has a really bad reaction to artificial flavours and colours. He doesn't get hyperactive, he gets really depressive and it's awful for him, and awful for us.

I checked the ingredients on the chocolate milk since he does finish the whole thing and low, both artificial colours and flavours. Why is this necessary? So I spoke with the school and we agreed that I would bring in a different dessert for him and I figured I would make his chocolate milk with organic sugar and pure cocoa powder. I thought it tasted great! I'll try those chocolate soy milk drink boxes, see how he likes those.

For his dessert I drove across town to the most expensive and inconveniently located healthfood store looking for Tofutti Cuties (soy ice cream sandwiches) because he loved those when we lived in Tucson, but I reread the ingredient list and wasn't impressed with high fructose corn syrup listed as the second ingredient. I got some organic Soy Delicious Big Buddy ice cream sandwiches that have organic brown rice syrup as the second ingredient. Maybe not so bad? I don't know. He really liked it though, and got through dinner without a tantrum. So far, so good.



He and Darren are at the Math Mania math fair at school this evening. I hope they get home soon, it is scary windy outside!